Rechta Advocatuur applies different hourly rates, upon the financial position of client or company, the importance of the case (from a financial point of view) and the urgency.
Hourly rates from 01-09-2022
For physical persons and SME the hourly rate starts from € 220,- per hour (exclusive 21 % VAT)
For multinationals and cross border litigation, the hourly rate starts from € 295,- per hour (exclusive 21 % VAT)
All rates are exclusive costs of third parties. Rechta Advocatuur does not charge office costs and does not charge extra costs in case the correspondence is in a foreign language if it is Russian or English. Costs third parties, such as court fees has to be paid promptly after Rechta Advocatuur sent the invoice to client.
See also the general conditions of Rechta Advocatuur, paragraph 4 for more details about the payment conditions.
Rechta Advocatuur does work with a fixed fee, because it is too complex to predict at forehand how the court proceedings will take place. On the one hand it is impossible to know how the opposite party will behave: setting up a counterclaim for example or asking the judge for the hearing of one or more witnesses. On the other hand, unfortunately, Rechta Advocatuur has the experience that once the fee is fixed, an ‘’all inclusive’’ sentiment rises. Workable is the agreement that for all procedural steps an agreement will be made: for example: writing summons or the answer, discussing the document with client, adding the required exhibits and send it to court a fixed fee of € 1500,- excl. VAT can be agreed (for an average case and not just 1-3 days before a deadline). Furthermore, for all legal steps an estimation can be made at forehand.
In case an agreement has to be made or a mediation session has to be set-up, Rechta Advocatuur can agree about a fixed fee.
Court fee and costs of the opposite party
More information about the court fees is available on this website under “costs of litigation”. In case a party lose the case and has to pay the costs of the winning party, with the exception of Intellectual Property (IP) cases, never has to be paid all the costs of the opposite party. What has to be paid are the court fee of the opposite party, the costs of the bailiff (if any) and costs of an expert (if any) and a fixed amount of the lawyer costs.
In the Netherlands court fees has to be paid directly, at the same moment the summons has been sent to the court. This is the so called “pay at the entrance” system. In case the court fee has not been received in time by the court, the case will automatically be ‘not admissible’. Court fees in civil corporate cases can increase until € 4030,-. https://www.rechtspraak.nl/Uw-Situatie/Kosten-rechtszaak/Griffierecht/paginas/griffierecht-civiel.aspx
Due to the fact that court fees can raise upon the afore mentioned level, court fees has to be paid always in advance to Rechta Advocatuur.
Legal Aid Board
When a person have the right to receive a subsidy of the Dutch government for legal aid, he or she still has to pay the so-called own contribution and the court fee to the lawyer. Due to the fact that the conditions and amounts of the own contribution and court fees changes regularly, it has no sense to inform clients via this website.
For more details and requirements about the possibility to receive financial assistance from the Dutch government, see the websitehttp://www.rvr.org and http://www.rechtsbijstand.nl/over-mediation-en-rechtsbijstand/hoeveel-moet-ik-zelf-betalen
Also for EU citizens and even non-EU citizens who are obliged to litigate in the Netherlands (for example a divorce with a Dutch husband who is still living in the Netherlands and/or the Dutch court is the appropriate court), the government may subsidy this application if all other requirements are met.
The attorney working with clients who receives the governmental subsidy, receives only a fixed amount from the government by rendering subsidized by the government legal aid. This means that if the attorney works twenty hours for a client, the government does not pay the hours but just the fixed fee of (normally) 7 or 8 hours by a relatively low hourly rate. This means also that if the attorney is convinced that the tax income is not the final income of client or his partner, to agree that the services will be rendered not with a governmental subsidy but based on a hourly fee.
An important exception when a person has no right on the governmental subsidy is the moment client has a low income but immovable property abroad. Another important exception is when a client receives the subsidy and at the end of the court proceedings client receives 50 % or more of the box 3 exemption https://www.rechtsbijstand.nl/over-mediation-en-rechtsbijstand/voorwaarden/voorwaarden-hoogte-vermogen